At several points, in Mary Zimmerman's hip and lively adaptation of The Arabian Nights, now premiering at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the layers upon layers of shaggy-dog stories produce a punch drunkenness in the audience. We may have expected an old-world tableau of Egyptian intrigue, but what we witness are winding, dizzying comic yarns within yarns that tell far-fetched tales of a farting man, a randy green grocer with a big cucumber, and a scabby, dribbling, gruesome bride. Yet, the writer and director -- who has made a career of revamping classics, reinventing ancient myths and fables in surprising ways -- once again reminds us of their relevance as she finally stirs us back to presen[...]